nizaammajothigameart-blog

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Red Chases Blue #2

I started with 2D thumbnail drawings. To find the right silhouette I did several, then I did some more final larger side view drawings. I picked the one I liked and began modelling its side profile. I immediately realized how difficult this was, as I was used to having all sides from a blueprint ready for me. I then sketched some front views and ¾ view drawings to give myself a better idea of the outcome. I then did a final drawing and began modelling again. I found whilst modelling this vehicle, I kept adding and taking away or trying out different details to see what would fit. Translating a 2d design into 3d is never easy so I let myself create using the primary silhouette as a canvas. These are my developments so far.

This is what my final design looked like, I highlighted the assets I wanted to change colour, and then it was time to make the thing! 

This was the first base mesh I made, it was simple, and I used one of my 2D thumbnails to build the silhouette.  

After some further tweaking, and the addition of a roll cage, wheels and a front splitter, the design was now being fleshed out and matching the vision in my head a little more. 

Here you can see I changed the front generator into two, I did this because the large gap in the hood of the vehicle was just lazy and I felt that it took away from the design. I also made the real wheel staggered, which means its deep dish at the back. 

Here is where I added colour to see my idea come to life. I wanted the leader of the race to have the Blue assets so Red is always chasing Blue. This may change by the end of the project as I am still adding final touches, but soon it will be time to add some materials to get this thing looking somewhat presentable!  

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Red Chases Blue #1

For this project we were given the title ‘Red Chases Blue’. And that’s about it. Everything else is up to us and we have two weeks. These kinds of briefs are super interesting because it gives us a lot of space to create and play. For me, I immediately gravitated towards vehicles, this is because I want my specialized field to be hard surface. I made a few mood boards about these two colours and how they are represented in the automotive/racing industry. There have been many iconic cars such as Schumacher’s Ferrari’s, Tommi Makinens Mitshibishi Evo, and even the Nismo brand (Nissans in house motorsport/tuning division). In the blue corner we have cars like the Ford Escort Cosworth, The Calsonic Skyline R32 (nicknamed Godzilla) and the Subaru Impreza WRX STI. All Iconic and game changers. My discovery was that these strong primary colours are used to help these brands make the cars stand out and catch the eye. Especially whilst on a race track. The brief title is not Red vs Blue however, it is Red CHASES blue.

Red images:

by Jim Weeks, Feb 2016 link:

https://sports.vice.com/en_uk/article/8qz483/schumacher-and-ferrari-the-launch-of-f1s-greatest-partnership

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrari_F40#/media/File:F40_Ferrari_20090509.jpg

http://mycarswallapers.blogspot.com/2012/05/race-car-wallpaper.html

https://www.4wheelsnews.com/auto/alfa-romeo-giulia-coupe-rumor-38859.html

https://www.motorauthority.com/news/1092839_racing-vipers-to-wear-le-mans-winning-dodge-livery-again

http://www.1zoom.me/en/wallpaper/360904/z1723.2/1920x1200

https://www.lancerregister.com/showthread.php?t=524798

Blue images:

http://www.thedrive.com/sheetmetal/15908/the-nissan-skyline-gt-r-r32-is-officially-nismo-fans-favorite-race-car

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/bugatti/chiron

https://mccmotorsports.com/product/impreza-wrxrssti/

https://www.motor1.com/news/139135/ford-focus-rs-sales-success/

https://www.gims.swiss/en/photos-premiers-2017/petrol/mustang-grabber-blue-11094

https://petrolicious.com/articles/this-is-what-its-like-to-drive-the-ford-escort-rs-cosworth

https://www.ilovegermanstyle.net/images/5384-nissan-tuning-race-cars-blue-selective-coloring-vehicle.html

https://www.stancenation.com/2013/12/08/supercharged-slammed-gregs-subaru-brz/

https://kistudios.com/product/porsche-racing-livery-wrap-contra/

So, my concept was simple. An idea for a game which involves racing vehicles, and during the race, the player in the lead will always be Blue, the rest of the players or player will be red. And at any point if 1st place is taken by another player; their vehicle automatically turns blue. But I didn’t want the whole vehicle to change as that would be too easy. I still wanted the vehicle to have its own unique livery. So, I picked out key components and assets on the vehicle that would change.

Before doing any drawing, I tried using blueprints from the Porsche 917 race car. The idea was to use its silhouette and then squish it to fit the style I was looking for in my head. Very quickly I realized this was not going to work and it did not look good to me at all.

 One of my weaknesses has always been stylized stuff. I’m familiar with realistic looking vehicles using blueprints and tons of reference images for accuracy. To get over this fear of stylized projects, I concepted my own designs and used a couple references for design direction. The first world I explored was the world of Hot Wheels. In some toy cars they exaggerate elements so well and create such abstract forms which I really was trying to find in my own designs. I also looked at the game Rocket League. One thing I noted with both is that secondary details such as interiors, badges, door lines, boot/hood lines and branding was all removed. Replacing it was more fundamental cut lines, curves and vents. Vents are always good. I wanted my final design to be in a semi science fiction world and not too detailed, so it could be ready for platforms like mobile. As someone who has developed mobile games in the past, I can say optimization is important, and with the mobile industry getting bigger and bigger, it may be nice to have a portfolio piece that reflects games for the growing platform.

Image reference:

https://www.brokenjoysticks.net/2018/02/21/dc-super-hero-themed-cars-leap-rocket-league-march/

http://www.egmnow.com/articles/news/rocket-league-gets-a-new-arena-new-cars-more/

https://www.rocketleague.com/news/four-new-dlc-cars-available-today/

http://hotwheels.wikia.com/wiki/Wolverine

http://hotwheels.wikia.com/wiki/Luke_Skywalker

https://shop.mattel.com/shop/en-us/ms/disney-cars-toys

http://www.toystate.com/

https://www.groupon.com/latest-deals/gg-buggy-truggy-24ghz-remote-control-car

http://www.autoclassmagazine.com/web/the-best-racing-car-in-history-joins-the-best-actor-ever-in-a-classic-movie-we-all-love/

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Media Discourses #1

In my first lecture we discussed and debated communication theory. The Shannon-Weaver model. So, what is it?

 Beginning with the two key components, the transmitter and a receiver. That which is being beamed across from the transmitter would be information, data, energy or material. What could potentially disrupt the flow of this information is something called noise, interference.

 An example of this could be whilst watching TV, bad weather may disrupt the signal which then would leave you with your favorite TV show dropping in and out or disappearing completely. Due to this you would not receive the complete form of information intended by the transmitter. In between this transaction there are several key components, the medium, signal, information, message and channel. Let’s put this into practice. A smoke signal would be the message/information, the fire/source would be the transmitter or medium. The light/atmosphere would be the noise and/or channel. And the eye would be the receiver of all this.

 Now we can include the concept of encoding and decoding. This is what happens in our everyday lives and across different cultures and countries. The same message can be interpreted many ways by different people. For example, an inside joke could make a group of friends laugh, but someone outside of that social circle may not understand it and could even get offended.

 Moving to the next addition to this theory, a constant feedback loop, cybernetics, a control system. An example of this could be sales for a record label. When a record label releases an album, how it is received by audiences may impact the next album they release. Depending on artist and genre, if something did not do well at all, it is very unlikely there will be a follow up similar as income and sales for the record label determines its survival. What can increase the chances of making the music well received? Here we have Redundancy and Entropy. 

Redundant art or information is something a large portion of society will decode quite easily. Cultural norms such as flashing lights on a police car send out a universal signal of emergency. At the same time, the police car does not need another set of lights to communicate no emergency, so the absence of a message can be a message itself. An entropic message is something that is unpredictable, in contrast to something that is redundant.

 How does all apply to me and my specialized field?

 I want to get involved in hard surface vehicle art, and then introduce VR to my project. But what will be my message? My own thoughts are telling me that whatever it is, I will have to have a decent balance of entropic and redundant information. With entertainment design/art it is important to get users engaged but also have a sense of unknown that they can discover whilst engaged. Easter eggs, surprises, rewards. For my specialized field, noise could be things like unrealistic materials or inaccurate modelling. They key for me will be trying to replicate reality and accuracy in my model to the best my ability.

Graham Williamson, 2014, SLTinfo, UK, from: https://www.sltinfo.com/entropy-and-redundancy-in-human-communication/

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My First blog! Hello!

Hello! Welcome to my game art blog! So, let me introduce myself.

My names Nizaam, I’ve been on a little journey before I got here. To sum it up, I graduated with a BA in Game Art Design in De Montford from 2014. Then I worked odd jobs for a year, and then I made mobile games after starting a little indie company. Two years later, me and my two programmer friends have now completed a 2D game called Inops, a 2D side scroller for the Nintendo Switch, hopefully releasing soon! Find out more at www.zrzstudio.com!

 Right, so why am I here?

 I left behind the 3D art world, a little.  I am here to redeem myself. PBR and VR never existed when I graduated, how sad. So, my goal for this MA is to develop something in VR, something immersive, interactive and accurate. Something presentable but also something that could captivate the player or user. But more on that later.

 Today after speaking to my colleagues and imploding with excitement for the first week here, someone introduced me to Magic Leap. Let’s dig a little deeper.

 Just imagine AR and VR had a love child. Imagine being in your own home with zombies straight out of the latest Call of Duty coming to get you. Or something like that. So, what does the hardware look like? Its called the Magic Leap One Creator Edition. It is a sleeker headset then what the other VR headsets offer, and then a mini computer that fits in your pocket, which means you can wonder around and not worry about cables unplugging being tangled up. I must say I am very impressed!

 But what are the cons? The field of view is 50 degrees, compared to a standard VR headset which is 110. That means the experience is a lot more limited when it comes to space. Also, for things with a user interface, such as apps, text can be blurry or glow around the edges. So maybe its not as crisp just yet. Also, objects can sometimes look translucent which gives the game a way a little, no pun intended.

 What does this all mean to me? As someone who wants to develop an interactive project, it made me realize that one of the issues I might have to deal with is quality. If I want something to look amazing, maybe at this point it might look crisper outside of the headset, and simply on the screen. However, this won’t stop me, it may haunt me a little! Though overall, Magic Leap is very impressive and really challenging the way we see things. Something I will be keeping tabs on.

 Last name, First initial. (Year published). Article Title. Journal, [online] Volume(Issue), pages. Available at: URL [Accessed Day Mo. Year].

 Magic Leap, 2018, https://www.magicleap.com/magic-leap-one

Adi, Robertson, 2018, Magi Leap One first look: worth the hype? By: The Verge, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2XQHLSuETs